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I think we are very lucky the O's have won as many games as they have. The season sits on the verge of going completely down the crapper and here's why:

1. The Starting Pitching. No one can get into the 7th inning, and this will completely burn out the bullpen. I think O'Day pitches every game. Tillman and Gonzales haven't been nearly as good as last year. Arrieta completely sucks (again) same with Britton. There was hope that Bundy or Gausman might join the team later in the year if the rotation needed bolstering. So much for that idea...

2. Pedro Strop. He was completely lights out in the 8th inning last year. If we got to the 8th with the lead, Strop and Johnson would shut the door and we'd win. Not so this year. He flat out stinks.

3. The hitting. There have been some bright spots- Machado, Jones, Markakis. But there have been plenty of downers- namely Reimold who forgot how to hit again, Hardy who caught Reimold's disease, same with Wieters.

4. 2nd base. Roberts, predictably, broke down yet again. The problem is the replacements have all been terrible. Flaherty needs to be sent down. I'm nauseasted every time he steps into the box. There was hope that Schoop might get hot at Norfolk and stake claim to the spot. Ugh....back to Bowie with him I say.

5. DH. Lord how we miss Mark Reynolds now with his .291 average and 7 HR.

I'm not sure how to right this ship. There's a lot more wrong with the team than right at this point.

I agree things are not rosy right now but we're still 16-12 and have faced the toughest stretch of games we will likey encounter this season. I agree the SP needs a shot in the arm but if we can just get 6 innings every start then I'm confident Buck and DD will make additions and subtractions to keep the bullpen fresh much like they did last year. I think the offense is good and could potentially get better with the return of Roberts and possibly the addition of Schoop by midseason. DH, I agree, is a black hole right now and using last year's model, I can see DD making a push soon for another bat, especially if Betemit cannot round into form. Strop?? Don't know what can be done here but I'm pretty comfortable with Matusz, O'Day and Johnson, probably more so than last year when Strop had incidents of wildness. Also keep an eye on MacFarland. It will be interesting to see what Buck does with this kid as the season progresses. I do believe that DD will be aggressive in his moves to keep this club competitive. Just my two cents

Docjj I agree with what you said about Flaherty (whom I like). He needs to go to Norfolk. The problem is there is no help at 2nd base there.

I never thought I would say this but here goes, I miss Ayala and ever since he's been gone the bullpen has mostly been a shambles with the exception of O'Day and Johnson.

The DH spot is atrocious which I stated a week into the season.

We need a 2nd baseman that can hit .250, hit behind the runners and steal a base.We need a DH that can hit .275 and drive in some runs.We need a 5th starter and should have signed a innings eater like Saunders (I know we've been there before).We need another right handed short man in the bullpen.

Seafordeagles wrote:I never thought I would say this but here goes, I miss Ayala and ever since he's been gone the bullpen has mostly been a shambles with the exception of O'Day and Johnson.

I disagree. Over the last 14 games, the O's bullpen has a 2.51 ERA in 46 IP, and has only given up .56 HR/9 in that span. They've been quite good without Ayala.

While Ayala has pitched well for the Braves (4.2 IP, 9.64 K/9, 0 HR, 3.86 ERA, 2.81 FIP), McFarland has actually been better. I don't think McFardland would be here without dealing Ayala. Plus, McFarland is a lefty.

Seafordeagles wrote:The DH spot is atrocious which I stated a week into the season.

Agreed. I could definitely see the Orioles trading for a DH. Especially now that some prospects like Tim Berry, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Parker Bridwell have played better, the Orioles have some more flexibility with who they can trade.

Seafordeagles wrote:We need a 2nd baseman that can hit .250, hit behind the runners and steal a base.

I think Roberts can provide this when he gets back. If he gets hurt again, I could see Schoop coming up sometime around the All-Star break.

Seafordeagles wrote:We need a DH that can hit .275 and drive in some runs.

Jordan Tuwiner wrote:I disagree. Over the last 14 games, the O's bullpen has a 2.51 ERA in 46 IP, and has only given up .56 HR/9 in that span. They've been quite good without Ayala.

While Ayala has pitched well for the Braves (4.2 IP, 9.64 K/9, 0 HR, 3.86 ERA, 2.81 FIP), McFarland has actually been better. I don't think McFardland would be here without dealing Ayala. Plus, McFarland is a lefty.

Justin, The difference between Ayala and McFarland is that Buck would call on Ayala in any situation (I know about inherited runners with Ayala). With McFarland, Buck is babying him and putting him in games that are not on the line (he may be our best 5th starter, who knows). They are 2 totally different pitchers as far as when and how they are used, and for that reason there should be no comparison between the two of them.

Also we need another RIGHT HANDED short man. This is where Strop is really hurting the Orioles. I'm sure if Buck and DD knew that Strop was going to implode they never would have dealt Ayala because salary wasn't the reason for trading him. My choice for right handed short man besides O'Day would be Tommy Hunter now.

You fotgot to mention, Jones seems to have forgotten how to play defense. Far to many errors from our team captain. Could someone in the Orioles system please work on Wieters swing? His swing is so long, I can walk my dog take a potty break and brew a cup of coffee in the time it takes him to get his bat around........Everything that has been said about starting pitching is true. Our starters are bad. Look at what Kansas city has done, or the Nationals and you see franchises that want to win Now. Through trade and free agency, those teams have bolstered their SP. In a perfect world we would have a DH that can adequately play 3-4 postions. There is something to be said about having that old school professional hitter in your club house. Look at Ortiz, Baines, and Edgar Martinez.....those guys are very valuable, why cant tge Orioles employ a prototypical Dh? Probably because it would cost money..... we wouldnt want to spend any of that, I mean after all they are printing more of it every day.

Seafordeagles wrote:Justin, The difference between Ayala and McFarland is that Buck would call on Ayala in any situation (I know about inherited runners with Ayala). With McFarland, Buck is babying him and putting him in games that are not on the line (he may be our best 5th starter, who knows). They are 2 totally different pitchers as far as when and how they are used, and for that reason there should be no comparison between the two of them.

Also we need another RIGHT HANDED short man. This is where Strop is really hurting the Orioles. I'm sure if Buck and DD knew that Strop was going to implode they never would have dealt Ayala because salary wasn't the reason for trading him. My choice for right handed short man besides O'Day would be Tommy Hunter now.

It's Jordan.

And while what you say is true, I suspect that as the season goes on McFarland will pitch in more high pressure situations. He clearly has the stuff to do so.

Not surprised by Reimold's early season results. I didn't like going into 2013 with him as a made man for the 25. He takes pitches, which could lead to better production at some point this year. But his approach still looks like it has not unimproved. Needs to take what the pitchers are giving him.

Matt Wieters is really living on defense while his offense continues to lag behind. The K % is going up again early on and that is not a good sign.

Brian Roberts...heh. As I said all along, he should have been released and signed to a mil deal until he proved to be healthy. Ryan Flaherty, obviously is not ready but we are forced to go with him because of the mistake to keep Roberts on the 25 man.

Bullpen, we could not expect it to be as good as it was in 2012. Overall its been just fine. Spoken about Strop enough this year.

I don't miss Mark Reynolds...yet.

The starting pitching is has shown some signs, and after a rough start, Chris Tillman now has a sub 4 ERA.

Adam Jones needs to lead, not talk about going out to "have fun". Winning is fun Adam.

IMO the Mark Reynolds we would have resigned is NOT the Mark Reynolds that's trying to prove something in Cleveland. He needed to learn (apparently, the hard way) that the league didn't value his all or nothing approach as much as he did. I posted on several occasions last year that I thought that being snubbed would benefit him, and it has.

dan72 wrote:Could someone in the Orioles system please work on Wieters swing?

I have some real doubts at this point in his career that he will be willing to make the adjustments necessary. He's another example of a player that was rushed to the ML because the team felt it needed to show SOMETHING from its farm system AND it wanted to sell tickets.

The problem is that Scot Boras will be looking for a Joe Mauer type contract for a Dave Duncan type catcher. IMO if we can't sign him to a responsible extension this year we should seriously consider trading him this winter.

-I don't regret not re-signing Mark Reynolds. He's a streaky player, and he's been on a hot streak 30 games into the season. It's only a matter of time before he starts slumping. Even with a improved strikeout percentage so far this year, he won't keep this up. He's never hit anywhere close to .293. He's never gotten on-base near a rate of .362. He's never slugged anywhere close to .641. From what we saw last year, he's an above-average defender at 1st base, and a hitter that will likely hit to an .800 OPS, and I was fine with letting that go. Reimold will break out sooner or later.-I don't think Gonzalez and Tillman have been that bad at all. Of course, they haven't been as good as last year, but who honestly thought they weren't going to regress a bit. For Tillman, the H/9 have naturally gone up, but he is still a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better pitcher than the Chris Tillman we saw in 2009-2011. Gonzalez has been running into some homerun problems, but he has kept us in every game he has pitched, and that is about all you can ask from a #4 pitcher.-Ayala being here or not being here wouldn't really make a difference at all. He's an average reliever. I would have liked to kept him, because I think it would have been smarter for us to send Brian Matusz to work as a starter in the minors, but he's gone and it really isn't that big of a deal.- The 5th rotation spot is a MESS. I'm not sure what Duquette was thinking on this one. Freddy Garcia isn't very good, Britton should have never been called up in the first place, Stinson is a reliever, Arrieta should have never made this team. Even with Steve Johnson, who should bring some stability to the 5th spot, but likely won't pitch great.-Strop will improve. He has too good of stuff not to. Maybe he isn't the reliever we saw in the first four months of 2012, but hey, not many people on this earth are. If he could keep that up, he be one of if not the best relievers in baseball. So maybe he isn't, that's okay. But he won't continue to pitch to a 6.00 ERA.- It's only a matter of time before Reimold & Wieters break out.

I wouldn't mind having Reynolds DH at this point. But overall this club seems to be coming together. If Schoop and Gausman can make an impact by August, this could potentially be a very strong contender. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic

Alot has gone in the Orioles favor as well-The AL east is more even now versus the top heavy division it was a couple of years ago. Which keeps the Orioles in the hunt-Machado is better than expected in his first full year-Davis Jones and Markakis all starting out hot with the bat-despite subpar starting and bull p en performance we are still contending. -Tillman and Chen have been solid, not super but solid. -Buck is one of the best in t he business

I agree on all your points of opportunity, DH and 2b virtually no production, pitching has been rough etc. I tend to be an optimist, I think we are 1 or 2 moves away from going back to the playoffs. If the pitching is not bolstered than we will have a tough go the rest of the way. Gausman I am told is still 2 months away at minimum. I would have loved to have had Saunders back, his salary was not that outlandish that it would have broken the bank.